Beetle's Nothing
by Grav
Summary: The discovery of a new technology in an ancient land puts SG1 in the path of old enemies...and old friends. COMPLETE
1. Stirrings

AN: Obviously, this is a work of fiction. However, the geography and descriptions of Jordan and the Tel of Khirbat al-Mudayna are based on my experiences digging in Jordan during the summers of 2004 and 2005. Some of them have been altered slightly to better fit the story. And some of them, of course, have been blown out of proportion completely.

It took me two years to write the first 4000 words of this. And two days to write the last 6000. A lot has changed. Thanks to my betas (list betas here) for picking up any mistakes.

A "Tel" or "mound of ruins" is what the local inhabitants call places where cities existed, were destroyed and then rebuilt again. Mudayna is not a true Tel, but the word has come to also mean "hill with ruins", so it usually referred to as "the Tel" by the people who work on it. In civilized company, at least.

Spoilers: This spins AU after "Full Alert" in season eight of SG-1 and includes a vague reference to "Letters From Pegasus".

Summary: The discovery of a new technology in an ancient land puts SG-1 in the path of old enemies…and old friends.

------

**Beetle's Nothing**

Daniel had been staring into his coffee cup for almost five minutes before the voice finally penetrated his early-morning-haven't-really-slept haze.

"Dr. Jackson?" It was one of the new archaeologists. Daniel cast about in vain for a name. "Dr. Jackson, I think you might want to have a look at this."

"Thanks" said Daniel absently and found himself presented with the latest issue of _The Journal of Egyptian Antiquities_. He wondered for a second why this was particularly important, given how much of Egypt's antiquity he had had a hand in disproving, but then one of the headlines caught his eye.

Daniel flipped through the pages of the journal until he reached the article: 'New Translations for Egyptian Text'. The hieroglyphs had been translated using his own methodology, but something wasn't quite right about it. He looked closer.

Approximately ten seconds later, Daniel Jackson tore out of the commissary, coffee in one hand, journal in the other.

------

"But the Beetle displeased the Lord whose totem he carried across the sky.  
And he rebelled against the Lord and the Lord cast him out of the Land of Egypt.  
But the Beetle was not without Power of his own and he stole the Lord's totem and tookit with him as he fled.  
And the People were afraid, because their Lord's totem was taken.  
And the Beetle and the Totem were gone, but the Lord of the Sun did not abandon his people.  
And his Power was still strong."

"A beetle?" Jack asked sarcastically when Daniel had finished his recitation. Sam looked slightly puzzled and Teal'c remained unflappable as ever.

"His name is Kephrey," Daniel explained. "He's an Egyptian god who almost never takes his anthropomorphic form. He was a scarab beetle and he carried the sun disc of Ra through the evening sky and then through the underworld at night, defending it from the snake god…Apophis."

"I thought the sun was a boat?" Sam said.

"It shifts."

"So I may be oversimplifying here," Jack began, "But isn't Ra kind of the Lord of the Sun?"

"Yes."

"And isn't the Stargate sort of a disc?"

"In orbit, Jack?"

"Just a minute!" said Sam, rifling through the papers in front of her. "Rodney wrote something about the Wraith – "

"McKay writes you letters?" Jack demanded.

"No, he writes his cat letters. He writes me reports." Sam looked up as she found the file she was looking for. "He's seen some interesting things. Anyway, quite a few of the 'Gates in the Pegasus galaxy are in orbit."

"That gives Ra two 'Gates. Three if we count the Antarctic one." Daniel pointed out. "Why would he need so many?"

"He's a Goa'uld, Daniel," Jack said. "Maybe he just looked out the window one morning and decided he wanted a matching set."

"The enmity between the Jaffa of Apophis and those of Kephrey is very ancient indeed," Teal'c said. "It was a great sorrow of ours that there were none left to fight when we were training to be warriors."

Jack stared at him for a long time and then turned to Daniel. "Daniel, do you have any idea where this Kephrey might have gone? And why he wouldn't have Jaffa anymore?"

"I'll look into it."

"Do that. If there's another 'Gate or cast-out Goa'uld running around out there, I'd like to know about it."

"Daniel, who wrote the article?" Sam asked.

"It's credited to Dr. Leon Sjaak. He's obviously read my work, but I've never heard of him."

"Well, it's nice to know someone takes you seriously, " Jack said airily.

"Not _that_ seriously," Daniel said. "He's mistranslated the word 'totem'. It's the same word that Catherine's original team mistranslated as 'Gate of heaven.'"

"Stargate?" Jack burst out. "Don't leave things like that for last, Daniel."

"It gets better, Jack. 'Leon Sjaak' is an anagram of my own name, except for three letters which are missing."

"Which three?" asked Sam.

"N-I-D."

------

AN: Cue theme music…


	2. Wake Up Call

**Wake Up Call**

_Light. So much light. It surrounded her. More than that, she could feel it inside her, which made no sense. She very clearly remembered dying and dead people did not feel. It penetrated every cell in her body. Her mitochondria remembered what they were supposed to do. They took the light and made it into energy. Her heart remembered to beat. Her blood remembered to flow. And when her lungs craved the air, she remembered to breathe._

_With that first gasped breath, her eyes flew open and nerves long abandoned screamed in agony even as instinct made her sit up. She looked around her, the blackness clearing from her eyes, but saw nothing that was in any way familiar. Her breath came faster and her heart pounded as she began to panic._

_Strong arms gathered her up and lifted her from the box in which she had lain. They set her down again a short time later and she melted into a bed so full of pillows, she was afraid they would cover her and she would lose again the memory to breathe. She wanted to resist, but her muscles were slow to respond and she could do nothing in her own defense. She could do nothing at all but breathe and try to remember who she was and why she was here._

"_Be at peace, woman," said a voice from above that did not inspire any confidence whatsoever. "Your death is over now. By the power of your god, you have risen again."_

"_My – my – my god?" she gasped, remembering how to speak and somehow knowing that this was very, very wrong._

"_Yes, woman, your god," said the voice. "By his power you live again and all he will ask in return is that you serve him."_

_Confusion and questions and a thousand memories flooded her mind and when the blackness began to cloud her vision again, she gave in and let the darkness carry her away._

_------_

Daniel had long since given up his methodical internet search and was simply clicking around at random, hoping to get lucky and find some trace of Leon Sjaack's academic career. Everyone had their own web-pages nowadays. Daniel knew of at least three wildly inaccurate pages exclusively about himself but somehow Leon Sjaack was a cyber non-entity.

He stared into his empty coffee cup and decided that a walk to the commissary would clear things up nicely. Before he had quite finished standing up, Sam bounced into his office, looking triumphant.

"What?" It came out a bit more waspishly than he'd intended, but she brushed it off.

"I found him," she announced. "I think."

"Let's hear it then. I've gotten absolutely nowhere."

"I had Barrett run through the personnel list of the NID to see if there was anyone left alive qualified to do those translations," Sam began. "Our best candidate is named Jason Owens. He's hiding in Canada teaching at a university. He wasn't important enough for them to go to the trouble of extraditing him. In fact, until recently they weren't sure why he would hide at all."

"The Trust."

"Barrett doesn't think he's hiding from The Trust," Sam disagreed. "He thinks Owens is hiding from what The Trust became after they split off from the NID."

"So this is a coded cry for help?"

"It appears so. He made all the right mistakes and told us exactly how to find him." Sam sat down in one of Daniel's extra chairs. "The general wants you to think of a way to contact him covertly."

Daniel turned back to the computer and typed the correct name. He got the expected deluge of useless hits, but quickly found a good one.

"Dr. Owens is overseas at the moment," he announced after quickly skimming the page. "He's on a dig in Jordan."

"Damn it," said Sam. "When does he get home?"

"That's the beautiful thing about digging, Sam; you can just show up at most sites, isolated in the middle of nowhere, and ask for a tour." Daniel told her. "Owens must have known when his article would be published. He wants us to meet him in Jordan."

"Well," said Sam, "I haven't been to that area of the world in a while. We'll have to run it past the general, but I'd say we could probably start packing."

Daniel grinned.

------

"Remind me again why four highly trained Air Force personnel are traveling in steerage on a civilian aircraft, Carter." Jack's request had been much funnier the first few times he'd made it, but Sam rolled her eyes and answered anyway.

"A brigadier general can't just waltz into the Middle East, sir."

"I was planning to sashay."

Daniel made a very suspicious noise, reached for his headphones and retreated into the in-flight movie.

"Also sir, I think they stopped calling it 'steerage' shortly after the Titanic sank."

"Watch the movie, Carter."

"It's about time travel, sir. It will only make me worse."

Jack rolled his eyes and put his headphones on. The remainder of the flight passed mostly in silence as Jack, Daniel and Teal'c watched the movies and Sam devoured a guide book. They got through arrivals and customs at the Amman Airport without hassle and with all of their baggage which, Daniel assured them was nothing short of a miracle.

Once they hit the pavement outside, Daniel took charge. Although three of the four members of SG-1 had extensive experience in the Middle East, only Daniel was used to dealing with the local population on a daily basis. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning, local time, and Sam was worried that they would be stuck at the airport. Despite the hour, however, the road outside the airport was jam-packed with travelers, taxis and ornately decorated trucks. Daniel flagged down a cab and surprised the driver by haggling the price of the trip in fluent Arabic. In short order, they were on their way.

As they passed the last security check on the road out of the airport, Daniel craned his neck around towards the back seat.

"Can I tell you about where we're going now?"

Jack looked hard into the rearview mirror. The driver did not appear to be using it, instead changing lanes blindly, and Jack decided that this was about as isolated as they were going to get.

"Fine. In 25 words or less, tell us about Madaba."

"Very funny, Jack." Daniel said, giving the General a hard look. "Madaba was a town before the Romans arrived in the Middle East, but it flourished under Christian rule because it produced high-status mosaics. It's still the Christian Capital of Jordan and it's fairly progressive." He looked at Sam apologetically, "You're going to attract a lot of attention, but if you're with one of us, no one should say anything too offensive."

"Peachy."

"The site Owens is digging," Daniel continued, "is much older. As far as I can tell, it's Moabite, and it dates to approximately 800BCE."

"What events transpired in this place at that point in your history?" Teal'c asked.

"The Israelites were conquering anyone they could get their hands on. The world in general was in a bit of a decline, though no one really knows why, between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Except in Cyprus, where – "

"And how is this relevant to us?" Jack asked.

"I have no idea," Daniel admitted.

The desert slid past in the darkness. The taxi pulled off the main road and drove through a small town that was completely deserted save for a few dozen plastic bags dancing in the wind.

"Sam," Daniel said in a completely different tone of voice than the one he used for lecturing, "How many rooms did you book?"

"Two. The guide book said they have two single beds in each room."

"Oh."

"What?"

"Nothing! It's just that – well – some hotels won't let an unmarried woman stay in the same hotel room as a man."

"That's…ridiculous."

"No, the buses are ridiculous. The English Court has more unspoken protocols. This is just the culture, Sam. You've dealt with it off-world."

"I guess I just thought…"

"I know."

"What do we do then, Daniel?" Jack asked, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"Um…well, when Sarah and I traveled abroad, we pretended to be married." Daniel couldn't bring himself to look at Sam when he said it.

"Well, then," said Jack, not bothering to conceal his amusement. "Shall we flip a coin, Colonel, or would you like to choose?"

"Next time we travel with the Air Force," Sam said through grated teeth.

"Anything you say, dear."

A town appeared on the horizon. It was lit up by a myriad of white lights and dotted with the occasional green one. Daniel quietly explained that the green ones were mosques, because green was the colour of luck and good fortune. The highest point of the town seemed to be a church; its white-lit cross a sharp contrast to the green-lit minarets. The streets were empty except for the odd dog and the windows of the shops were dark. A few minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of a hotel.

"Mariam Hotel," The driver announced in accented English.

"Shucron," said Daniel as he handed over the agreed fare.

"Welcome to Jordan!" said the driver as the last of the bags were deposited on the tiled sidewalk.

They were so preoccupied with picked up their bags and determining how best to wake the night watchmen and get into the hotel that none of them noticed the taxi driver pulling out his cell phone as he drove away, nor did they see the small flash of light in the unused rearview mirror.

------

"Is it safe to eat cheese that doesn't need to be refrigerated?" Jack asked, poking the foil-wrapped morsel on his plate as though it might contain nitroglycerin.

"I'm sure we've survived worse, Jack," Daniel said dryly. "Half the planets we go to haven't discovered refrigerators yet."

"That's true," Jack commented thoughtfully and then passed the cheese to Teal'c who was calmly eating everything in site. "Did you get the taxi?"

"Yes. The hotel has a regular driver. He'll take us out, wait for us and then bring us back into town."

It was just shy of 6:30 in the morning when SG-1 left the hotel. The hotel's manager had been surprised to see them at breakfast so early, having let them in only a few hours before, but SG-1 was used to functioning on little sleep. They had gotten almost four hours, in spite of an unexpected wake-up call at about three-thirty when the minaret next door had issued the pre-dawn call to prayer.

The streets of Madaba were bustling now, and the town was hardly recognizable from their drive through it the night before. People were everywhere. Sam couldn't help but stare at the long lines of men waiting to catch the bus to work and the groups of veiled women carrying trays of flatbread on their heads. At the edge of town, the taxi was stalled by a veritable ocean of goats and sheep which, through Daniel's translation, the driver explained were there to be bought and sold at a weekly market.

Once into the country side, the taxi drove home haphazardly around pot holes and speed bumps that reached only half-way across the road. The houses which dotted the landscape were all squarish and white and the ground was bare and desolate except for the occasional olive grove. Daniel pointed out ancient sites which dotted the landscape, often near a modern village or farm.

The left the main road and began weaving their way through a series of short hills. Bedouin tents were set up in clusters every few kilometres, and the children all rushed outside to wave as the taxi drove past. Daniel was giving directions to the driver and, after a few more hairpin curves at ridiculous speeds, the car turned left on to another road.

"Daniel," said Sam, whose pidgin Arabic had been steadily improving all morning, "did you just tell him to turn left at the camel?"

Jack snorted and even Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Well it's not like there are a lot of landmarks," Daniel defended himself. He looked out the window and pointed. "Look, there it is."

The hill he indicated was shorter than those around it. It was some distance away yet, but Teal'c could see small, brightly-coloured dots moving about on it and several large cuts and trenches marred the even topography.

The taxi turned right on to an unpaved road and dust cloud immediately obscured the view. Jack looked down and noted with some alarm that the road was more or less exactly the width of the taxi and that the ground sloped almost vertically five metres down to a dry wadi bed. The dust cleared a little and a small village came into view. Beyond it was another dry wadi bed, a few fields where melons grew thanks to a jury-rigged irrigation system and the Tel known locally as Khirbat al-Mudayna.

The driver said something to Daniel, who looked ruefully across the landscape and nodded before turning back to the rest of his team.

"We're going to have to walk from here," he said. "The taxi can't make it down through the wadi bed."

"All right, campers!" Jack announced. "Off we go."

They got their packs and water bottles out of the trunk of the car and began their trek down into the wadi bed. There was no water in it at all, but the banks were lined with pink oleanders. They passed a small group of excavators who looked up curiously but said nothing. As they began their ascent, a man climbed down to meet them half-way.

"Hi!" said Daniel when they were close. He reached out to shake the man's hand. "My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson and these are my colleagues Sam, Jack and…Murray."

"Robert Bishop," came the reply. "What brings you to Mudayna?"

We were passing through Madaba and I found out an old friend of mine was digging here from one of the managers at the hotel," Daniel said smoothly. "Dr. Jason Owens."

"Ah, Jason," said Dr. Bishop. "He's out on survey today, but he'll be back soon for second breakfast. Would you like a tour in the meantime?"

"That would be wonderful," Daniel said with complete sincerity. He had a gleam in his eyes that Sam recognized; no matter what amazing things Daniel did with his life, part of him would belong forever to the desert and to digging things up in it.

Dr. Bishop led them through a large stone structure which had once been the gate to the town. There were several students out front, digging on a slope nearly 45 degrees from flat. Bishop explained that they were looking for the road, having hunted for it unsuccessfully for nearly ten years. They continued walking south, over a massive threshold stone and passed three rooms on each side and then through an empty courtyard and what Dr. Bishop described as the temple before they reached another area bustling with activity.

"This is Field B," explained Dr. Bishop. "They keep finding things here that we can't explain."

A woman with an authoritative bearing walked towards them. She looked questioningly at Dr. Bishop.

"Michele," he said, "these are friends of Jason. Dr. Jackson, this is our director, Dr. Wilfrid."

There was another round of handshakes and Dr. Bishop excused himself to get back to the gate. Dr. Wilfrid took them around Field B, explaining with great certainty what SG-1 had just been informed was mostly speculation. Jack, who was thoroughly bored and equally uninterested in a two and a half thousand year old textile production factory, meandered off to have a closer look at the eastern edge of the Tel. He passed a red-headed girl who was struggling to attach a piece of graph paper to a clip board without losing the sheets already attached in the gale-force wind that whipped down the edge of the Tel. A dark-haired young man climbed out of the square to help her, and using four hands, the job was completed. Jack peered down two metres or so into the square and observed the size of the rocks they were trying to move.

"I hope you get paid well for this," he said.

"Oh, we don't get paid," said the red head, who was now attaching a pencil and several pens to the clip board. "Actually, this trip cost me $3500. And I got a discount."

Jack regarded her as though she were insane, but the girl was clearly used to it and only smiled before climbing back down into her square.

Teal'c had attracted the attention of several of the local workmen. They stared at him openly and he stared back. Finally, after several minutes, Dr. Wilfrid reminded them sharply that they had work to do.

"We're short a workman today," she explained to Sam. "They say he is sick and went to Madaba in a taxi last night to see a doctor."

Sam nodded as Jack walked back towards the main group.

"What's down there?" he asked, pointing to the south.

"Field E," Dr. Wilfrid replied. "It's been mostly empty, so we closed it down early."

"That makes sense," Jack said in his very best-behaved sarcastic tone. It flew, as intended, right over Dr. Wilfrid's head. "When did you say Dr. Owens would be back?"

"Second breakfast," came the prompt reply. "You can see him now."

Sure enough, two figures were climbing down a hill about 500 metres east of the Tel. One was carrying a long pole. The other one was larger and carried a box of some kind that Daniel explained carried a total station.

The students on the Tel all seemed to realize what time it was simultaneously and with a few shouts of "second breakfast!" to those who were too far down to notice what was going on above them, they hoisted full baskets of dirt up to ground level and climbed up an assortment of ladders. All carrying the biggest water bottles Sam had ever seen, they headed down a staircase that was constructed of sandbags and gathered around the supply tent, where sandwiches and juice were distributed.

"After you, please." Dr. Wilfrid gestured to the stairs.

As SG-1 climbed down, Dr. Owens and his assistant began their ascent. They reached the tent at approximately the same time.

"Dr. Owens! Jason!" Daniel said warmly, stretching out his hand. "I found out you were here and I had to come see what you were up to."

"Daniel, it is so good to see you." Owens had clearly had some practice at this. "And you even brought some friends to meet me! I have so much to tell you."

------

It was the smell that attracted the dogs, the barking that attracted the children and the screams that attracted the adults. By the time the Madaba police arrived, quite a crowd had gathered.

No one knew him. His license revealed that he was from Amman and a registered taxi driver, which was even odder as the taxis generally left their fares at hotels and this taxi was near a poorly-maintained public hospital.

When the body arrived back in Amman and the coroner looked at it, it was in terrible condition. The sun and car windshield had done their work and the sun was setting. The family was anxious to bury their relative before the day was done.

As the coroner drove himself home, he knew that this death would never be explained and no perpetrator would be caught. No one would ever read the coroner's note: death due to complete CNS failure. Unusually clean cut to the back of the neck and severe trauma to the throat.

------

**TBC...**

AN: Yes…I know it is much harder than that to get an article published. It's not like this show has ever followed anything like realistic academic timelines.


	3. The Memories Begin

**The Memories Begin**

"_Woman! Woman!" came the frantic whisper. "Tau'ri!"_

_Her eyes flew open and she stared up into a darkened face._

"_What the hell – " she began_

"_Hush," the whisper came again, "My name is Tara'c. I am a free Jaffa warrior and you are Taur'i."_

"_Yes," she replied, remembering. "Yes, I am. What is happening?"_

"_I was killed by the warriors of Lord Yu when the Jaffa were taken in by Imhotep," Tara'c said. "I awoke here and they told me I would serve my new god."_

"_Imhotep?" she said. "That was almost two years ago."_

"_Nay, woman," He disagreed. "It is closer to three."_

"_What?" she asked, then changed her mind. "Never mind. What god?"_

"_His name is Kephrey. He has been building an army in secret for many years. There are many different Jaffa here."_

"_Any more rebels?"_

"_Yes," he replied, "Almost three dozen. We decided to co-operate until we could get a message to Master Bra'tac."_

"_How many – " she began, but Tara'c raised his hand to silence her._

"_The priests come. Pretend to sleep. I will be back later, when they leave you for the night." Tara'c inclined his head to her. "Woman, I would ask your name."_

"_My name?" She racked her brain, knew it was in there somewhere._

"_My name is Janet Fraiser." _

_------_

The land which surrounded Khirbat al-Mudayna was unforgiving at best. The dry wadi bed was spotted with pink oleander flowers, but aside from those and the painstakingly irrigated and rather small wheat fields, there was little vegetation. Instead, the hills were covered with sun-blasted limestone and the sheep and goats nosed among the rocks for the wilted and shrubby greens. There was an isolation here, a loneliness that was palpable even when one was in a group of people. In short, it was perfect for clandestine conversations.

"I didn't know was I was doing," Jason began once they had put a significant distance between themselves and the Tel. "I thought it was code-breaking. When the NID recruited me, they told me it was because I was an epigrapher, not an archaeologist."

Jack carefully selected a rock and sat down on it. The rest of SG-1 followed suit and after a few minutes, Jason gave up pretending to survey and took a seat as well.

"I was translating something that was similar to Latin, but not quite," Jason continued. "They told me it was in the interests of national security."

"Well, they weren't completely lying," Jack said. "What did it say?"

"It was a message from a person named Osiris to a person named Anubis." SG-1 sat up straighter. "I thought it was pretty ridiculous for code names. The message said 'My lord Anubis: I have found the Beetle's trail. Once my mission with Daniel Jackson is complete, I shall track the Beetle to his lair.'

"There was also a large data file about the Beetle. I kept a copy. It's in my hotel room in Madaba and it talks about a man named Kephrey."

"When did you realize it wasn't a code?" Sam asked.

"When I read the data file. I wasn't supposed to, but I recognized your name, Daniel, and I wanted to know what was going on. And then I realized that they were real people, not code names."

"What did the file say about Kephrey?" Daniel asked.

"He lived in Egypt in the time of Ra and controlled the aerial Stargate."

"So you do know what that is?" Daniel cut in.

"I've never seen one, but I mis-translated it on purpose, if that's what you mean." Jason admitted. "I needed to get your attention."

"It worked."

"Anyway, Ra and Kephrey had a falling out and Kephrey fled and took the gate with him." Jason continued. "He brought it here, to Mudayna and set up a kingdom in Moab."

"That is…amazing!" Daniel exclaimed in a breathless voice.

"I know," Jason agreed. "It makes everything so – "

"Point please, gentlemen!" Jack cut in.

"Right." Jason shook his head slightly. "When the Israelites attacked, they overwhelmed Kephrey's forces. He made his last stand in the temple and then fled with the last few of his followers through the Stargate."

"Have you found anything about a device used to control the Stargate?" Sam asked

"That's why I volunteered to do the survey." Jason said. "From what I understand, the Gate itself is buried on the Tel. After the Israelites sacked and burned the town, they buried the Gate because it was too big to destroy. If I'm right, it should be in Field E, at the back of the Tel. The control device was moved, though, by Kephrey's own men, to keep the invaders from controlling the Gate."

"There is a matter which is still unclear to me," Teal'c said. "What use would a Stargate be to the NID? Even with the Dial Home Device, we would be aware of their off-world movements and be able to track them down."

"They don't want the Stargate," Jason explained. "They want Kephrey. Or what's left of his technology, I imagine. Kephrey is probably long dead."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Jack. "But why Kephrey? What makes him special?"

"I am not really an Egyptologist," Jason said apologetically, "so I can't be certain about this, but from what I gather, Kephrey is one of the gods of rebirth. The scarab beetle buries itself in the sand for months at a time and can resuscitate itself when favourable conditions return."

"Jack," Daniel said, "if Kephrey's godhead has some basis in the truth – "

"Then that's what the Trust is after." Jack finished. He turned to Jason. "Could you give us a few moments please?"

Jason looked like he had more questions, but walked away as requested.

"Sir, what are you thinking?" Sam asked.

"I think it's time we stop playing archaeologists and start…well, being archaeologists." Jack said. "Where is the _Prometheus_?"

"It could be here tomorrow," Sam said.

"Alright then. When we get back to Madaba I'll call Cheyenne Mountain and have it directed here. Will you be able to come up with a scanner that will detect the Gate and the DHD?"

"It shouldn't be too hard," Sam said. "I'll just reconfigure the—"

"Excellent," said Jack. "How much longer do we have to stay out here?"

------

"Remind me again why we're going back to the field today," Jack said. He squinted at the horizon as the first few rays or sunshine began to break over it.

"Because the _Prometheus_ won't be here until tonight and if the Trust shows up today we should be there?" Daniel offered.

"Will the Trust not simply beam up the Stargate themselves?"

"A lot of my plan depends on them not having a ship," Jack admitted.

"I don't think they do, sir," Sam said. She rolled up her window as the dust from the wadi starting pouring through it. "If they did, they would have beamed it out long before Jason got here."

"Wonderful," Jack said as the car lurched to a stop. They all got out and got their gear out of the trunk.

"Ah…you have returned!" They heard Dr. Wilfrid call out. The woman sounded much too excited for the early hour. "Jason is going to be setting in points on the Tel today, if you would care to join him, Dr. Jackson."

"That would be nice." Daniel said. Sam was almost sure he was being genuine.

"Your colleagues are welcome to join in wherever they like." Dr. Wilfrid smiled. "The more the merrier!"

"Indeed." Teal'c said.

Just then, two buses pulled up beside where the truck was parked and a horde of tired looking-students piled off them. They milled around for a few minutes and then started up the Tel to the supply tent where they had all had second breakfast the previous day. Jack fell in beside the red-head he had spoken to the day before and asked if she would mind an extra hand for day. She seemed surprised, but conceded quickly enough. Teal'c was deep in conversation with Dr. Bishop; the latter was gesturing emphatically, and Sam had elected to stay at the bottom of the Tel and work alongside the students there.

Jack had never really given much thought to what it meant to be an archaeologist. Usually, SG-1 was only called in after something was found and even then, only when it was interesting or different. What faced him this morning was mostly made of dirt and some horrible kind of rock that fell apart under the slightest pressure and was then excruciatingly difficult to pick up and get out of the square. The red-head happily answered all the questions he peppered her with and he was eventually able to determine pottery, or _fugar_ as they called it, from the rock, or _hajar_.

After a couple of hours, a water break was called and Jack climbed up to get his water out of his backpack. The red-head was standing on the western edge of the square and squinting at something Jack couldn't quite see.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"There's a car," she said, sounding puzzled.

"Are they coming here?"

"There's nowhere else to go," she pointed out.

"Nobody here drives a car that nice." The dark haired boy Jack remembered from yesterday had joined them.

"Unless they work for the government."

"Would you guys excuse me for a bit?" Jack said.

"Of course," said the red head. "You're free to go whenever you like. We're the indentured workers."

"I've had a great morning," Jack said and surprised himself by not being sarcastic. "Hopefully I'll see you later."

The two students smiled and said good-bye and headed back to work. By the time Jack had rounded up Teal'c, Daniel and Jason, the car had reached the wadi. They watched it drive through and then park at the bottom of the Tel. Dr. Bishop and Dr. Wilfrid joined them. Sam made her way out of the ruins she'd been working in just as the party was exiting the car. It was hard to read body language from so far away, but there was no doubt in Jack's mind about what he was seeing: his 2IC was very, very worried.

The final figure exited the car and pulled out a hat to cover his balding head. Jack stiffened and felt Daniel and Teal'c react as well. Daniel grabbed Jason's arm and began muttering in his ear what Jack assumed were variations of "don't panic". Drs. Wilfrid and Bishop did not react at all, but then they were Canadian and therefore less likely to recognize a disgraced and publicly dead former Vice President of the United States of America.

Neither Kinsey nor any of his party were visibly armed, but Jack could hardly forget that he was surrounded by unarmed children. He forced himself to relax and hoped that this situation would be resolved without bloodshed.

"Look!" said Dr. Wilfrid. Jack started. "It's Nasr. He must have hitched a ride with them."

Jack's eyes drifted down the Tel, not to the workman, but to Sam. She was signing at him, using the signs they'd developed for just such an occasion: the number fiveand then the sign for Goa'uld. Every person climbing the Tel had a snake in their head, and there was another in the car.

"Dr. Jackson!" Kinsey called out when they were in hearing range. "What a surprise to see you here."

"Hello," said Dr. Wilfrid. She sounded slightly put out. "Welcome to Mudayna. My name is –"

"We know who you are, Dr. Wilfrid." Only SG-1 and Jason appreciated the veiled threat in that statement. "I have many friends in the Ministry."

"Are you here for a tour?"

The Trust operatives and SG-1 eyed each other cautiously. Sam had not joined them, choosing instead to stay with the car and the operative who had not made the climb. Jack knew that his team was armed, but only with their sidearms. He could only assume that the Trust was similarly armed. They hadn't come here for violence; there were too many people for the weapons they had.

"No, Dr. Wilfrid. We're here to give you this." Kinsey handed over a rather official looking document.

"There must be some mistake." Dr. Wilfrid said in a puzzled tone.

"I am afraid not, Dr. Wilfrid." Kinsey's smile grew larger. "You are hereby requested to withdraw from the field until further notice."

"You can't just –"

"Yes, Dr. Wilfrid, I can." Kinsey made no attempt to disguise the threat in his tone this time. "I have the full support of the Minister of Antiquities, as you will note at the bottom of page four."

Dr. Wilfrid looked back over her students and set her jaw. "Very well."

As the two professors went off to gather up their students, Kinsey turned to Jason and smirked.

"Dr. Owens. You've fallen in with a new crowd I see."

"I have." Jason said, managing not to blanche any more than he already had.

"How's that working out for you?" Kinsey smarmed.

"It's working out just fine."

"You should have stuck with us, Owens," Kinsey said. "You might have lived."

"You mean you would have snaked him," Jack cut in. "That's not what I'd call living."

"You were always narrow minded." Kinsey's Goa'uld voice took over: "Now get off my Tel. We have work to do."

"This isn't over, Kinsey."

"It's never over, Jack."

------

The car ride back to Madaba was mostly silent. Sam and Teal'c had surreptitiously examined the taxi driver and revealed that he was fully human, but no one really knew what to say.

"We'll have to take him with us, sir," Sam said finally as they were pulling into Madaba. "They'll kill him if he stays."

"I know," Jack replied. "Daniel, you go pick him up and bring him back to the hotel after we get dropped off. We'll all…leave town together tonight."

Daniel nodded and spoke to the taxi driver in Arabic.

"When is our ride due, Carter?"

"In about eight hours," Sam said. "Sir, I think they're going to dig for it. And they may not even know where the DHD is. It'll be tight, but I think we have the time to beat them."

"That's what I like to hear."

The taxi pulled up in front of the Mariam and Sam, Jack and Teal'c piled out. They took their gear from the trunk and then Daniel and the driver set out for The Black Iris, the hotel that Jason was staying in. Daniel asked the cab to wait for him, and went inside.

The Black Iris was much darker than the Mariam, but the foyer was much bigger. A man dozed on the sofa, but he got up immediately when Daniel came in.

"Hello, sir," said the man. "I have no free rooms."

"Actually, I am here to see Jason Owens. Could you tell me where he is?"

"Ah, Mister Jason. I like him. His Arabic very good." The man smiled. "He is in room 307. Go down the stairs, through the glass door and then back up the stairs on your right to the third floor."

"Thank you, salaam," Daniel replied and headed off.

The upper floors of the Black Iris were well-ventilated and Daniel could feel the wind moving through the hall way. He knocked on room 307 and wait a few seconds.

"Who is it?" Jason sounded very tense.

"It's Daniel, Jason." Daniel said. "Let me in."

Daniel heard the door unbolt and then it opened to reveal Jason holding a zat'ni'katel and looking as harried as he'd sounded.

"How in the world did you get that past customs?"

"What? Oh, it doesn't register as a weapon. They thought it was a hair-dryer," Jason said. "What are you doing here?"

"You have to leave."

"You think?"

Daniel looked around and realized that Jason was packing his things.

"Oh. Well I think you should leave with us," Daniel said. "You know the _Prometheus_?"

"I've heard the word."

"It's a ship. It's going to be here in a few hours to get us out. We're also going to beam up the Gate and Sam is going to make a scanner to find the DHD."

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"

"Because…we needed to talk to you." Daniel refused to be side-tracked. "Look, the Trust is probably going to kill you as soon as they can. I think you should come back with me to the Mariam and we'll all wait for the _Prometheus_ together."

"What am I going to tell Dr. Wilfrid?"

"In about three minutes, the man at the desk is going to answer the phone and find out that you have a very sick aunt and as executor of her estate, you have to fly home and sign the papers that will take her off of life support."

"Oh. Okay."

"Can I help you pack?"

------

The _Prometheus_ arrived right on schedule and SG-1, their increasingly uncomfortable companion, and all of his luggage were beamed aboard. Sam got straight to work on the sensor platform that would pick up the DHD from orbit and it too was located in short order. The _Prometheus_ altered her orbit slightly so that she Cheyenne Mountain was in beaming range.

"Send the Gate to these coordinates, Colonel," Sam requested, tapping on her console.

"Forwarding coordinates now," Pendergast replied. "Gate is away and the DHD has followed. Where do you want me to set you?"

"Why don't you beam us directly to the briefing room?" Jack suggested. "I've done enough walking for a day."

"Aye, sir!" Pendergast said, and the _Prometheus_ faded in a bright white light.

------

Sam put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes in frustration. She was surrounded by power crystals and computers and empty coffee cups. It had been almost four hours since she'd begun her analysis and so far she had nothing to show for it.

The phone rang and she got up to answer it, ignoring the cracking sounds made by her long-unmoved bones.

"Carter," she said.

"Hey, Colonel," Jack drawled. "What have you got?"

"Nothing, sir," she admitted. "I'm sorry."

"All is not lost, Carter." Jack was clearly very bored. When they had arrived home and rested for a bit, Sam had gone to her lab and Jason, Daniel and Teal'c had gone to do some research, but the General had to go back to dealing with the day to day details of base operations. "The book guys have found something that Daniel says is very promising."

"I'll be right up, sir."

Sam got to Daniel's lab as quickly as she could, desperate to find something out about the DHD they had recovered.

"Hi, Sam. Have a seat." Daniel said and then got straight to business. "In last year's field season, some of Dr. Wilfrid's students found an ivory scarab in field E."

"The field she said was empty?" Sam asked.

"What's a scarab?" Jack queried.

"Yes, and it's a kind of seal,." Daniel answered. "Before people used their signatures to confirm business deals, they would use seals. Scarab seals are in the shape of a beetle, and then the bottoms are carved with the symbols or mark of a person's name. The Mudayna scarab was probably worn on a ring, but the band is gone."

"Okay," said Jack. "How does this help us?"

"The field notes say that the scarab has fake hieroglyphics on it for the seal's imprint," Daniel explained. "Dr. Wilfrid thought that they were marks made by someone who knew that hieroglyphs were important, but didn't know what letters they stood for; that they just made a pretty picture. Teal'c and I had a look and we think it's a Gate address."

"SG-12 is currently giving a report from P3X-936. They're scheduled to be done in 20 minutes. When they're clear, we'll send a MALP."

The phone rang and Sam went to answer it.

"Carter," she said, then: "It's for you, sir."

Jack went to the phone and the rest of SG-1 listened to a half-conversation, then he hung up.

"I had Walter keep any news from Madaba flagged," he said. "It seems there was a break in at the museum last night. One of the scarab cases was smashed."

"They know!" Jason said. "They're going to be right behind us."

"There is yet no cause for alarm, Dr. Owens," Teal'c said smoothly. "The Trust operatives must travel to another planet in order to access a Stargate. We will have sent out probe before they are able to do so."

"Teal'c's right, Jason," Daniel said. "We've got lots of time."

"All the same," Jack said, "I think I would feel more comfortable if we all went up to the control room now. Make sure you bring that address!"

------

AN: Many academic archaeologists have two specialties: the actual practical skills of digging/mapping/surveying, and then a more specific topic like an ancient language or a type of pottery.

Also, Sam really invents the naquadah thingy in "Ex Deus Machina", but I had to give it to her early.


	4. Born Again

**Born Again**

_The network was firmly in place. Not all the reanimated rebel Jaffa had known one another. In fact in most cases, their deaths were separated by several years. How they recognized one another Janet never knew, though she suspected that Teal'c and Bra'tac had long since established protocols for recognizing their fellows. Tara'c was the only rebel she ever saw. His position in the temple guard allowed him access to her, but the other rebel reanimates were in the regular militia. For the first few days, she had been wary of him, but his account of his time under Imhotep and of Teal'c's duel with the false god was spot on and she had cautiously let down her guard._

_Tara'c, by virtue of his liaisons between the temple and the army, kept the rebel Jaffa apprised of their situation. He alone knew who each rebel was and it was his job to screen each group of reanimates for allies. Conscription was out of the question. They had no great orator in their company and none of the reanimated Jaffa would believe that Kephrey was a false god if they had not already thought so without strong persuasion._

_It had been Tara'c who told her the real reason for her reanimation. The temple priests had given her nothing but the standard mumbo-jumbo about it being god's plan and she had yet to see a priestess, as they were cloistered from all save the priests and the god himself. The high priestess, Tara'c informed her, was carrying a nearly-matured prim'tah. And Kephrey intended Janet to be the host of his new Queen._

_All things considered, Janet took the news fairly well, asking only when the ceremony was to take place._

"_One day hence, Janet Fraiser." He wasn't Teal'c and the news was far from good, but it was oddly reassuring to hear someone call her that again._

"_Can you get me out of here without compromising yourself?"_

"_I can surpass that, Janet Fraiser," Tara'c said, a familiar gleam in his eye. "In one day's time, we Jaffa will take the chappa'ai and escape to our freedom with you."_

_------_

"Chevron four is locked!" Walter announced.

Jason stared at the Stargate as it spun in front of him, his face full of wonder.

"It gets better," Jack murmured to him.

"Chevron five is locked!"

The chevrons on the Gate suddenly flared and the inner cordon began to spin in the other direction.

"Walter?"

"Incoming wormhole, sir," Walter reported. "I'm sorry; they dialed in before we got out. I am closing the iris."

The doors to the Gate room slid open. A detachment of marines ran in and took up their flanking positions. The wormhole engaged and the control room was bathed in a watery blue light. Jason was gaping now.

"Are we getting an IDC, Sergeant?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sir. It's Master Bra'tac."

"Open the iris." Jack turned to his former teammates. "Let's get down there."

They made their way down the stairs and around the corner. By the time they reached the blast doors, Bra'tac had already come through and the wormhole had shut down. Jack ordered the marines to stand down and they filed out as SG-1 came to the centre of the room.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Bra'tac asked, eyeing the MALP that stood at the base of the Gate. He was supporting another Jaffa warrior who was clutching his stomach. Jack knew that that was never a good sign.

"Just some recon," Jack said simply. "Need a hand?"

"Indeed, General O'Neill," Bra'tac said as Teal'c moved forward to help support the injured warrior. "This is Fara'c. He has lost his symbiote and needs tretonin to replace it."

Walter, who was listening on the comms, called for a med team. Jack nodded his approval and turned back to the Jaffa.

"Not that I don't love it when you drop by, Master Bra'tac, but we were just about to launch a MALP—"

"No," mumbled Fara'c. "You must not. Listen to Master Bra'tac. Please, her life depends on it as do many others'."

The med team ran in had got Fara'c onto a gurney. He waved off Master Bra'tac, insisting that he give SG-1 an explanation as soon as possible and then he was wheeled away.

"Whose life?" Daniel asked.

"Why don't we take this upstairs?" Jack suggesting, gesturing grandiosely in the general direction of the briefing room. "I get the feeling that this is going to be fairly complex."

"Indeed, O'Neill," Bra'tac agreed. "And we do not have a lot of time."

------

"What do you know of the false god Kephrey?" Bra'tac asked as soon as they were seated at the conference table.

"We know that he was in Egypt with Ra, that they argued and Kephrey lost and then fled to Moab." Daniel said. "There he built another Stargate complex but eventually had to abandon it because he was overwhelmed by the Israelites. We have a Gate address to where we think he went."

"You know much, as always, Dr. Jackson," Bra'tac said, inclining his head. "But I know more."

"How so?" Jack asked.

"The Goa'uld Kephrey is thought dead by most of the remaining system lords," Bra'tac began. "However, he has long dwelt in secret, keeping only a few Jaffa at any time and withholding himself completely from all politics. But for all he did not participate in their dealings, Kephrey kept very close watch upon his former compatriots. After a major battle, he would often gather up the dead and take them away to his planet."

"Why?" Jack broke in.

"Because he's the beetle," Jason said cryptically.

Bra'tac looked at him directly and Jason quailed.

"That is so," Bra'tac agreed. "Kephrey would keep these fallen Jaffa in stasis tubes of his own invention but modeled after the Goa'uld sarcophagi. There they are quite dead, but if placed in a sarcophagus, they will regain life.

"It is my belief that Kephrey bided his time, collecting Jaffa until he had sufficient numbers to make a stand against the system lords."

"Master Bra'tac," Sam interjected. "How do you know this?"

"For this information, we have Fara'c to thank," Bra'tac explained. "It seems that in the reanimated Jaffa there are many rebels. Fara'c is one and he tells me that there are others. He and a fellow rebel were on a scouting mission for Kephrey and took the opportunity to defect."

"Won't Kephrey notice?" Daniel asked, "And where is the other?"

"You are steps ahead of me, Dr. Jackson." Bra'tac said with a smile. "Fara'c was ordered by the leader of the rebels on Kephrey's planet to make his disappearance appear like his death."

"His symbiote," Teal'c said.

"Yes," Bra'tac agreed. "Once on the planet Kephrey had assigned them to, Fara'c and his companion redialed the Gate and came in search of me. I was most surprised to see them alive, but they explained their story quickly and outlined what must be done next. We gave the other some wounds to support his story that he was attacked and then he removed Fara'c's symbiote to carry to Kephrey. It is the custom to present the god with the symbiote of fallen comrades."

"Nice," said Jack. "How do we fit into this?"

"Kephrey has reached the zenith of his plan," Bra'tac said. "No longer does he store away Jaffa. Instead he is reanimating all of them into his army. But they are not yet all awake. Kephrey waits because tomorrow he will implant the prim'tah of his high priestess into the woman he has chosen to be his Queen."

"Jack, we have to get there before that happens!" Daniel said.

"Indeed you do, Dr. Jackson," said Bra'tac solemnly. "The woman Kephrey has chosen is known to you."

"No!" Sam burst out. Everyone looked at her and she turned to Jack. "Sir, there haven't been that many bodies we haven't recovered. And there's only been one female."

"Janet," Daniel breathed. Bra'tac nodded.

"Start with these things next time!" Jack exclaimed.

Daniel said nothing, but slumped back in his chair, a myriad of emotions and thoughts playing across his face. Jason looked puzzled, but knew that this was not the time to ask questions and Teal'c betrayed his emotions only through a single raised eyebrow. For several moments, no one said anything and then Daniel leaned forward.

"So. What are we going to do?"

------

They gathered in the Gate room at 0750. Four teams of marines, each briefed on the intricacies of their targets by the recovered Fara'c, performed one last check of their assigned ordinance while they waited for the Gate to dial. Teal'c and Bra'tac, each wearing traditional Jaffa robes, waited with Fara'c. They would not join the fighting directly. Instead it would be their task to sway the bulk of the Jaffa or, if necessary, subdue them.

Jack looked over at Daniel with some concern. Daniel had been uncharacteristically wooden during the rest of the briefing and mission prep and he had refused to say anything that was not directly relevant. That alone sent up red flags. Jack caught Sam's eye and she tilted her head in Daniel's direction. Jack rested both hands on the top of his P-90 and headed over to talk to his teammate.

"Everything ready, Daniel?"

"This isn't really the type of mission I am good at, Jack," Daniel said. "I have my orders and I'll follow them, if that's what you're asking."

Jack ran a hand across his face. It was going to be one of _those_ conversations.

"You're allowed to get your hopes up for this one, you know." Jack used a softer tone this time.

"I know." Daniel was staring at the Gate which had now begun to dial.

"We're going to get her back."

"I know."

Jack looked over at Sam and shrugged apologetically. The look she shot back said _at least you tried_ and she came to stand with them just as the wormhole engaged.

"SG-3, you have a go," Jack called out.

Colonel Reynolds nodded and drew a Goa'uld stun grenade from his weapons belt. He rolled it through the Gate and counted down from five. Then he briskly ordered his team to move, and then went through.

A few tense moments passed before Reynolds' voice came over the radio loudspeakers.

"_Gate secure, sir._" The radio cackled. "_All the guards have been taken. We are dealing with them. You are clear to move through._"

"You heard the man." Jack said, pulling a hat from his pocket and sticking it on his head. "Move out!"

SG-5, SG-10 and SG-21 marched up the ramp and disappeared through the event horizon. Teal'c and Bra'tac followed with Fara'c. At the top, Fara'c turned around.

"May your battle go swiftly and may you find what you seek," he said, formally bowing his head.

"Yours too," said Jack. "Thank you."

The three Jaffa disappeared through the Gate and Jack looked back and forth between Sam and Daniel.

"Let's go see a doctor."

------

Major Harper and his team followed the path Bra'tac had assigned them with ease. They moved into the medical facility through a side door that was traditionally left open a crack to allow for air circulation. The main entrance, which led directly to the Kephrey's pyramid, was heavily guarded and there would be no ingress from that direction. The side door was hidden, as was customary with Goa'uld construction, but Harper knew exactly where to look.

Turning the glyph that would open the door the rest of the way, Harper motioned his men through it. They crept in and found, as they had expected to, that the lab was deserted. The rebel Jaffa had timed their attack so that the focus of the guards and scientists under Kephrey's rule would be on the impending implantation ceremony. This cut things a little close for Dr. Fraiser, but since the rebel Jaffa had planned it, Harper assumed they knew what they were doing.

Glancing around, he quickly located their target: the power source for Kephrey's stasis chambers. There had been some cause for concern voiced by Colonel Carter in the briefing that they would be killing unknowing Jaffa, but this was overruled by Fara'c's assurance that the Jaffa were already dead. The chambers did not preserve some spark of life in them; they merely kept them in cold storage. Every occupant of the stasis chambers was dead, in some cases; they had been dead for decades. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but Harper took solace in knowing that he was not about to kill any innocents.

He signaled for two of his teammates to rig the explosive devices while the third guarded the door. Harper quickly examined the lab, looking for anything that the Trust might want and determined that it was all close enough to the blast radius to be taken care of. His 2IC flashed him a thumbs up and switched on the timer. It began counting down as SG-5 made their exit, shut the door and headed for the rendezvous point.

------

SG-10 moved quietly through the hallways of the main pyramid after splitting up with SG-3. Fara'c had reported that the main power for the temple and the pyramid itself were both tied to the same source. This source was in one of the pyramid's sublevels, and that was SG-10's target.

They moved steadily downwards, meeting no one, until at last they came to the control room. Here they did meet guards, but there were only two of them and SG-10 was prepared. Using zat guns, they neutralized the Jaffa guards and placed their charges around the power crystals.

All told, they were in and out in under two minutes and then they headed back to the Gate.

------

Colonel Reynolds had never become entirely accustomed to the Jaffa. When he and his team rounded a corner and came face to face with two serpent guards, he couldn't stop his blood from running cold for a half a second. It was just…unnerving.

The Jaffa in question immediately lowered their helmets.

"Shel-kak nem-ron!" they declared in unison. Reynolds breathed a little easier.

"Can you take us where we're supposed to go?" he asked.

"Follow us."

------

Daniel stood in the shadows behind one of the support pillars in the temple. Jack was behind the pillar on his left and Sam was on his right. Teal'c, Bra'tac and Fara'c had disappeared into the crowd, but SG-1 wasn't really dressed to mingle. Daniel saw Jack check his watch and knew that SG-3 should be in position in the upper galleries soon. Now all they had to do was wait for the explosive signal.

The temple was fairly standard in layout. The lower floor was rectangular with a large pool in the middle. At the end farthest from the main entrance there was a large statue of a man dressed in the royal kilt, with the head of a beetle that stood on a raised platform. There was an altar at the statue's feet that was flanked by two guards in dress Daniel didn't recognize, but assumed must be the traditional armour of Kephrey himself. The guard on the far side was Tara'c, described by his compatriot, but the guard on the near side was loyal to Kephrey.

Around the pool, Kephrey's loyal subjects, and some not so loyal, gathered to witness the coming of their Queen. They left a round gap in the centre of the mob that Daniel knew was a ring platform. Kephrey had a good sense of theatrics, it turned out, and never walked into his temple on his own two feet. SG-1 stood behind the three pillars at the back of the temple, so that only a few Jaffa would be between them and Janet when the time came.

Suddenly the roof of the temple opened and the familiar sound of rings filled the air. Then standing on the platform, was a group of priests. They took their place behind the altar and waited. The rings came down again and deposited a single, ornately dressed woman. Her dark hair was plaited and piled high upon her head, held in place with gold pins and jeweled clips. Her dress hung from her shoulders to the floor and was made of the finest white linen. It was caught around her waist with a gold-coloured girdle and her neck and wrists were heavily weighted with jewelry. She looked out towards the gathered mass and raised her hands in blessing before turning to take her place at the statue-god's feet.

Daniel realized as the rings descended for a third time that he was holding his breath. Kephrey appeared this time and the temple filling with the voices of his worshippers, but Daniel had eyes only for Janet Fraiser.

She was pale and her face was solemn, but there was no outward indication that she had been drugged. Teal'c explained the manner in which Apophis readied potential hosts, but then added that Kephrey had never had a reputation as a traditionalist. She wore only a simple white gown and no jewelry at all. Her hair was unbound and Daniel noted that somehow it had grown since he'd last seen her. _Since she'd died_, he amended. There was no point in pretending this was normal.

He forced himself to focus. The timing of this was extremely delicate and relied as much on Janet trusting people she barely knew as on their own military tactics. She could not panic. And so far, she wasn't. Janet allowed the god to lift her up and place her on the altar, her head close to Tara'c. Kephrey then went behind the altar and sat down on the knees of his statue which, Daniel suddenly realized, also functioned as a throne.

"My people!" Kephrey's booming voice rang through the temple. "Today you will witness the coming of your Queen!"

The assembled mass cheered in approval until Kephrey held up his hand for silence.

"This day is a prelude to victory, my people." The false-god went on. "For my Queen will give birth to many symbiotes and those symbiotes will find homes within your fallen brothers and give them life again. And then, my people, we will be strong enough to take back our corner of the galaxy!"

"He's good," Jack murmured as more cheers swept through the temple. "Get ready."

Kephrey spoke directly to the priestess now, thanking her for her service and promising her that she would rise again. The symbiote in the high priestess' stomach emerged, emitting a high pitched squeal. Daniel saw Janet close her eyes and swallow hard as she attempted to remain calm. Any moment now….

And there it was. The sky behind them lit up as explosions ripped through the pyramid and adjoining medical complex. Second later, the shock wave reached the temple and pandemonium broke loose.

Kephrey was on his feet, howling with rage as the rebel Jaffa threw their robes aside to reveal their assorted weaponry. From the platform, Tara'c took out the other guard and grabbed the writhing symbiote from the priestess' pouch. He threw it on the floor and it shrieked until he fired his staff weapon at it and reduced it to a charred husk. Kephrey roared again and started for Janet, but SG-1 burst out from behind their pillars and fired on him. The bullets were blocked by his shield, of course, but they distracted him for long enough to allow Tara'c to grab Janet off the altar and pass her to a waiting member of the rebellion.

With SG-3 in the upper story providing cover fire, the rebel Jaffa and their earthly allies stormed the temple, choosing always to incapacitate instead of kill, but moving ruthlessly across the temple floor. Kephrey was roaring unintelligibly now, enraged to the point of incoherence. Tara'c drew a small knife and threw it through the false god's shield. It pierced his throat and protruded through the back of his neck, instantly severing the symbiote in half. Kephrey's eyes lit up when he fell, proclaiming him a god one final, useless time.

Bra'tac surged forward and leapt atop the altar. He was flanked by Teal'c, Fara'c and Tara'c, and joined by SG-1. Daniel went into the corner to see Janet and the rebel who had taken her from the platform returned to help guard it.

"My brothers!" Bra'tac cried in a loud voice, SG-3 stopped firing. "Hear me!"

Silence descended upon the mob, as faces turned towards the old Jaffa weapons master.

"Here lies the one you would call a god," he called, gesturing to Kephrey's crumpled and bloody form. "Here lies your deceiver, my brothers. For he is no god.

"He brought you back to life, it is true, but how can he be a god if he is killed so easily, with but one thrust of a knife? How can he be all knowing if he did not know that he would be attacked? How can he promise you a Queen when the beast lies burnt upon the floor of his very temple?"

The crowd shifted uneasily, but Fara'c could see questions on the faces of those who had been most dedicated to Kephrey.

"I offer you a chance for freedom, my brothers; freedom from the slavery of a false god. Take your lives back. You owe them not to him, but to yourselves. Join with us, my brothers! Help others learn to know freedom."

It was not the rebel Jaffa who started cheering first.

------

SG-1 left Teal'c in the temple to help Bra'tac and set out for the Stargate. Daniel, as far as Jack could tell, had not released his hold on Janet's hand since they be reunited in the temple and it didn't look like either of them had any plans on separating in the near future. Sam walked beside them, filling Janet in on what had happened lately with Cassie. Without really talking about it, they had decided to leave the hard questions for later.

"_Colonel O'Neill, this is Harper_." Jack's radio buzzed. "_We have an incoming wormhole_."

"Get to cover," Jack replied. "We'll be right there."

SG-1 took cover about 25 metres away from the Gate and were well-concealed before Kinsey and two Jaffa stepped through. They were clearly dressed for recon, and it was all Jack could do not to laugh out loud at Kinsey's costume. It was certainly a far cry from the smart suits they were all used to seeing their adversary wear. Jack stood up and walked towards the Gate.

"Ah, Kinsey!" he said, nonchalance at its finest. "We were wondering if you would stop by. As you may have noticed from all the smoke rising from those buildings over there, we have been reworking the social order on this planet."

"Why is Kinsey here?" Janet whispered in Daniel's ear.

"It's a long story," Daniel replied. "He's a Goa'uld now."

Janet stared at him and he shrugged, then smiled. She smiled back in spite of herself.

"What have you done, Jack?" Kinsey asked, gaping at the smoking pyramid.

"A bit of interior decorating, USAF style," Jack replied. "You know how it goes. I imagine the clean-up is going to be a pain. We recommend that the Jaffa burn the whole thing down and start over."

"Think about what you have destroyed, Jack. No one would ever have died again!"

"There's a reason people die, Kinsey." Jack said. Janet bowed her head and Daniel squeezed her hand. They had so much to talk about. "And it's certainly not worth letting it fall into the hands of the Trust. So why don't you just dial out and go tell your superiors that you were late to the party so you missed all the fire works?"

"This isn't the end of this, Jack," Kinsey said as he pushed one of the Jaffa towards the DHD.

"It never is." Jack smiled. "Oh, and by the way, nice dress."

Kinsey and his entourage disappeared through the Gate and the concealed SGC teams converged on the DHD.

"Somebody please dial us home," Jack ordered lackadaisically. "SG-3 is going to stick around and help Teal'c for a bit, but there's no reason for the rest of us to stay."

Daniel stepped up to the DHD and began dialing, still without relinquishing Janet's hand. The wormhole engaged and Sam entered her code into her GDO. The marines formed up and Sam went to get the MALP. Janet looked back over her shoulder at the smoking ruins of Kephrey's attempt at an empire and smiled.

"Let's go home."

**------**

**finis**

AN: Thanks, everyone. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

GravityNotIncluded, December 2004-February 2007.


End file.
